No sight of drinkable water in Ntwane for 100 years

Ntwane

The Bolsheviks Party of South Africa (BPSA) says it is concerned by a serious lack of potable water in Ntwane Village outside Groblersdal, which dates back since the village was established about 100 years ago.

According to the party, the village has never had drinkable water, which has been a scarce resource even after the dawn of democracy from 1994.

Seun Mogotji, BPSA Leader, said they have had enough of temporary water supply in the area and are tired of empty promises made by politicians all these years, instead of coming with permanent water reticulation to solve the problem.

“It should be noted that Ntwane Village is the worst affected area, there were hopes back then when the area was still under Mpumalanga Province during Ndaweni Mahlangu’s era, where the underground pipes and taps were installed, however, before the project could be completed, the area was forcefully incorporated into Limpopo Province and the project was stopped leaving people hopeless as taps ran dry since that day,” he said.

Mogotji said in 2012, a few years after the incorporation, Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM) appointed Rendaals 4 Consulting for the implementation of the Groblersdal/Moutse Bulk Water Supply Project, with an initial budget of R 650 Million that was later escalated to a whopping R1.2 Billion.

According to Mogotji the company only conducted a feasible study with the costs of R7 Million and vanished. However, Rendaals 4 Consulting was appointed again to render service in the ongoing Loskop Dam Moutse Water Reticulation Projects to supply eight villages in Mouste, despite the fact that they failed to implement and complete the first project.

“We asked ourselves why do they keep pumping millions into a non-performing favoured company that has proven over the years that they are unable to deliver, who owns Rendaal 4, who are the insiders with vested interests. The fact that the company is continuously given business deals with the district municipality is raising serious concerns,” Mogotji said.

Mogotji said the party has written a letter to the Anti-Corruption Forum, seeking their assistance to probe unprecedented dealings between Rendaal 4 Consulting and senior officials within SDM.

“The relationship of SDM and Rendaal 4 Consulting is therefore, deemed as inappropriate based on the continuous appointment of a non-performing company with an unfair advantage as with SDM. It is with such un-procedural appointments of companies that service delivery to the affected communities like Moutse will never have drinkable water,” he said.

Khomotso Ndlhovu, SDM Communications Manager, said at the moment, the district municipality is supplying water to Ntwane Village through water tanker trucks and boreholes.

“The long-term projects to the village are the Groblersdal/Moutse Bulk Water Supply and the Loskop Dam Moutse Water Bulk in which we are currently busy with reticulation and yard connections,” he said.